


Don't Catfish Your Friends (You Dumb Fucks)

by milkysterek



Series: #SWSWeek2017 [1]
Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Catfishing, Derek to the Rescue, First Dates, Light Angst, M/M, Mates Derek Hale/Stiles Stilinski, Misunderstandings, SWSWeek2017, The Pack Fucks Up, Werewolf Mates
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-01
Updated: 2017-04-01
Packaged: 2018-10-13 10:41:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,966
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10512108
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/milkysterek/pseuds/milkysterek
Summary: The Pack makes a fake online dating profile to try and boost Stiles' confidence. Derek fixes it.





	

**Author's Note:**

> For day 1 of Shipping With Stiles week.
> 
> Theme - Fool For Love (Open to interpretation)

“You did what?” Derek growled, slowly stalking his way from Scott’s kitchen into the living area. The whole pack was there, piled on the sofas and spare seats and cushions, having what they liked to call a ‘bonding night’. A movie was playing in the background, popcorn was sitting piping hot on the coffee table and Derek was furious.

The room was silent, nobody wanting to have to be the one to take the brunt of Derek’s wrath. For all his rage, a strange calmness had washed over him. He felt steady and his voice was low and silky, somehow managing to cover his growing need to strangle someone.

Lydia sighed, deciding to take one for the team.

“It wasn’t supposed to get this far,” The redhead was sat in a prime position on the couch, wedged between Jackson and Allison. It wasn’t unlike the three of them to bag the best seats in the house. “We were trying to help. Give him a confidence boost,” She explained before adding, “It’s really not a big deal.”

There was something about the way that Lydia flipped her hair when she was finished like she hadn’t done a thing wrong that made Derek’s blood boil. “Not a big deal?” He asked, slamming his bottle of beer down on the table as he moved closer. “Stiles is stood waiting in the middle of nowhere for his date to show up - a date that doesn’t even exist - and you think that’s _not a big deal_?”

Lifting her chin defiantly, Lydia stood her ground. “You’re overreacting. The movie theatre is hardly in the middle of nowhere and Stiles has his jeep. He’s a big boy. He can look after himself.”

Lydia Martin was the queen of bravado but try as she might, there was no way she could hide how she really felt about the whole situation from Derek. The girl reeked of guilt. It rolled off her in waves and if Derek was in a more diplomatic mood he’d probably let her off the hook. Lydia wasn’t as malicious as she’d like people to believe and she’d never intentionally hurt Stiles. Getting her to admit that, though, would be a losing battle.

Derek huffed, “And how is Stiles getting stood up on the first date he’s had possibly ever going to boost his confidence? What’s your answer to that, Lydia?”

The girl made tense eye contact with Derek for a moment as if she were assessing her chances of winning, then looked away, lowering her face. Jackson wrapped his arm around Lydia’s back but didn’t look up from where he was staring a hole into the carpet.

“She said it wasn’t supposed to get that far,” Derek turned toward Scott who was huddled next to Isaac. “One thing just sorta led to another. We’re all in relationships and we thought if we made him think a hot guy was into him, it might give him the confidence to go out and find someone. He’s my best friend; it’s not like I planned this.”

Derek pinched the bridge of his nose and strode back into the kitchen to find where he had dumped his car keys. He picked them up from the bench, shoved them in his pocket and headed through the living room and towards the front door.

“Where are you going?” Isaac asked, knees bunched up to his chest and neck slightly bared. It relaxed Derek somewhat to know that at least one of those little bastards was showing remorse. Not that he could stay mad at Isaac if he wanted to, anyway.

“To find Stiles,” Derek bit out and slammed the door to the McCall residence behind him.

  
The drive to the movie theatre on the edge of town was an uncomfortable one. He had no idea what he was going to say to Stiles or how he was going to handle this fucked up situation. Strong feelings made Derek’s skin crawl and the thought of having to console what was most likely going to be a humiliated Stiles almost made him want to turn the car around. He didn’t though. Of course, he didn’t.

The truth was - though this was a shitty situation and the pack shouldn’t have behaved the way they did - Derek probably wouldn’t have blown up so bad if this was happening to anyone else but Stiles. It wasn’t a favourites thing - not _really_ \- but Stiles did have a special place in Derek’s heart. What with him technically being the wolf’s mate and all. Not that that mattered because Derek _didn’t have favourites_. The mates thing was just a technicality - a technicality that he could totally handle. He was handling it great. Definitely.

As he pulled up to the theatre, putting the car in park, he hoped he hadn’t been too obvious in front of the pack. He was pretty sure Isaac had worked out what Stiles meant to Derek by this point - maybe that was why he had been so submissive when Allison had let slip about the catfishing - but he could do without the rest of the pack knowing. Especially Erica. The girl was a wolf in more ways than one. 

Boyd could handle her, though, probably. It was a relief when the teen had looked just as shocked and appalled as Derek did when he learned of Stiles' current situation. He wasn't surprised, though; Boyd was a sweet baby angel and he'd never take part in something like that. 

(Really, Derek didn't have favourites.)

Derek exited the car and made his way up the steps of the theatre, wandering through the lobby until he spotted the familiar figure. Stiles was leaning on a wall not too far away, his foot propped up against it and his head tilted down as he texted on his phone.

“You here to pick me up?” He muttered, once Derek was in normal human hearing distance.

Derek blinked and looked around. He knew Stiles must be talking to him but he wasn’t sure how the boy would know what he had shown up for.

Just then, as if reading his mind, Stiles held up his phone, the screen pointed in Derek’s direction. It was the dating app, open on the private messaging service. From what Derek could decipher through the weird text speak, it was Scott admitting what the pack had done and begging for Stiles’ forgiveness.

“Oh.”

“Yeah,” Stiles grunted and pushed himself away from the wall, cramming his phone into the pocket of his jeans before shoving his hands into his hoodie. “It’s whatever.”

The closed off look on Stiles’ face and they way he almost looked as if he were cast in shadow made something inside Derek twist uncomfortably. He grimaced and rubbed his palms on his jeans, gnawing at his lip. “Wait.”

Looking over his shoulder, Stiles frowned in Derek’s direction, confusion etched in the way is brows knitted together. “What?”

The smell of freshly buttered popcorn wafted past Derek’s nose making his heightened senses tingle. Places like this were torture for his sweet tooth which was why he’d usually dodge this area completely, taking a different route out of town whenever he had to leave for whatever reason. It was late so most of the people there were couples on dates and older groups of teens out with their friends. It was relatively quiet and Stiles’ heartbeat stood out, blaring in Derek’s ears. He wondered if that was a Stiles and Derek thing or if the other wolves in the pack would have been able to hear his heart just the same.

“Maybe...” He looked to the side, eyeing the movie selection. Stiles looked pissed but he smelt miserable and Derek wanted nothing more than to make that go away. He wasn’t exactly the best at that; most of the time _Derek_ was the one making the human angry - but it was worth a try. Stiles was Derek's mate and although he was able to hold back his instincts most of the time, right now they were screaming for him to comfort the boy. The fact that they weren’t in a life or death situation and Stiles wasn’t being an annoying little shit might help in this case, too. “Maybe we could see the movie instead.”

Stiles’ eyes narrowed and he spun on his heel almost elegantly. Derek would have been impressed by his uncharacteristic sense of balance if he didn’t feel like he had a giant spotlight over his head. While the wolf was good at pretending to be a growly and assertive alpha (haha) male, in reality, he was always a little uneasy and if there was one person that could bring that trait to the surface - whether it was noticeable or not - that was Stiles.

Taking a step forward and crossing his hoodie-clad arms over his chest, Stiles let his mouth hang open a fraction and ran his tongue along the inside of his lower lip. It kind of felt like the Stiles equivalent of the Derek Hale trademark eyebrow raise. “You,” Stiles gestured out with his hand, pointing a finger at Derek’s chest. “Want to voluntarily sit through a movie with me,” He points to himself. “On our own?”

Derek could tell from the boy’s expression that he wasn’t in the slightest convinced.

Mirroring Stiles’ stance, Derek folded his arms too and set his jaw, making sure to flex his muscles just a little because that never failed to reestablish his authority. “Yes. Do you have a problem with that?”

“Kind of,” Stiles huffed and dropped his arms to his sides in defeat. He slid his hands back into the pockets of his hoodie and shrugged his shoulders, looking down at the sticky, popcorn littered floor. “I don’t need your pity. So my friends are jerks - it’s no big deal. I think we’ve had worse things happen to us in the last few years than catfishing.”

“I don’t pity you,” A young couple not too far away from where Derek and Stiles had stopped to talk were huddled together, clearly listening in. Derek sent a telling glare in their direction and they quickly dispersed. Still, he was aware that they were starting to draw a crowd and he wanted to wrap this up as quickly as possible. “And just because we’ve all been through a lot doesn’t mean you don’t have the right to be upset. I know the pack had their hearts in the right place with this but that doesn’t take away from the fact that what they did to you was shitty. You can be pissed and we can go on this date. Who knows, you might have fun.”

“ _Date_?” A smirk curved up on Stiles’ lips and Derek felt the urge to back away. He stood his ground, though, because he had to at least pretend to have some form of self-control around his mate.

“Shut up.”

Stiles laughed then and a weight that Derek hadn’t noticed was there lifted off of his shoulders. “Sure, okay, but you’re paying - and I want both types of popcorn. Don’t go cheaping out on me, now. Oh, and maybe a hotdog and some chips and-”

As Stiles droned on about what foods Derek was going to have to fork out the money for - thank god he brought his wallet - he had no doubt there would be severe consequences for the dating profile but as of right now he wasn’t too worried. He’d wake the pack up at five tomorrow morning and make them do suicide runs in the preserve. Then he might drop off some curly fries for Stiles. Either way, seeing Stiles prattle on about different flavours of ice cream brought a smile to Derek’s face and for now, he would let them be happy.

**Author's Note:**

> Look, my dudes, this one is rushed as fuck because I had something else a little more _magical_ and _supernatural_ planned for today but my computer died and I lost everything and it just all went to shit, okay? Good? Good. 
> 
> That was a little more aggressive than I intended but all my other works are substantially more organised. 
> 
> (Shout out to anyone who saw my [tumblr](http://milkysterek.tumblr.com) temper tantrum when my computer broke. Boy oh boy did I come off like a brat. It's working again now though!)


End file.
